Required Courses

All Environmental Science students get to take the following courses:

New students take Environmental Science 101 and the Environmental Science 102 field lab (transfer credit is accepted). These courses give students a basic understanding of environmental science and allow students to visit 10 field sites that are of interest to environmental scientists.

Environmental field sites that have been visited in past labs include:

Wolf Education Center

Paradise Creek Watershed

Moscow Recycling Center

WSU Nuclear Reactor

Waste to Energy Plant, Spokane

Moscow Waste Water Treatment Plant

WSU Composting Center

Lower Snake River Dams

UI Experimental Forest

Environmental Science sophomores take a seminar class (EnvS 225) on international environmental issues. This is an exciting class that explores issues from varied perspectives and requires students to exercise their writing and public speaking skills.

In their senior year students work individually to do primary research (thesis), or work in a team to complete a project, as part of the EnvS 497 senior practicum. Thesis students choose a project and a thesis professor to mentor them as they conduct their research. Upon completion of the project, they write a 20 page thesis and do Power Point and poster presentations of their work. Students get one-on-one contact with faculty members and develop their public speaking, interviewing and research skills. This capstone class readies students for the job market or graduate studies. Alumni often comment that this class was extremely valuable in getting the job they wanted.